Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Making the case

Abstract

After their 2010 release, the Common Core State Standards were widely adopted, raising the bar for both students and schools. These standards represent a turning point in American education, as for the first time in history, a critical mass of education leaders are calling for greater equity and access for all students by committing to implement common standards. These standards provide greater rigor, coherence, and focus than ever before; they constitute a true roadmap for preparing all students for college, career, and citizenship. The Common Core State Standards specify the most important content students must understand in Mathematics and in English Language Arts and Literacy; the standards also describe important ways in which students should engage with the content. In the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, the Standards for Mathematical Practice (also known as SMPs) in particular reflect the view that learning is a social process, implicitly calling for teaching practices that leverage the power of group work and collaborative learning. The Standards for Mathematical Practice require that students solve real-world and mathematical problems by working effectively with peers; formulating, communicating and critiquing arguments; and persevering through difficulty. In short, the SMP support students' full engagement in mathematical learning. The CCSS initiative emerged during a national push for high-stakes testing and accountability with expectations for clear measures of teacher effectiveness. At the same time there was a widespread shift in teacher evaluation plans across the country to emphasize instructional planning, preparation, and the promotion of a collaborative and collegial environment. Taken together, the rollout of the CCSS and this shift in the expectations for educator performance reflect an understanding in the field that schools must think holistically about students' learning experience. Teachers can practice a more comprehensive approach through a number of creative strategies that leverage students' diverse strengths. In particular, to support effective collaborative learning, teachers can model for their students positive behaviors that promote crucial social and emotional skills. Schools and districts can support this work by adopting policies that acknowledge the importance of positive learning environments. They can also provide teachers with tools to identify and promote the skills that students need for continued learning and for applying their growing knowledge flexibly to solve real-world problems.

Full text

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Overview:
The CCSS for Mathematics raise the bar for students and educators
After their 2010 release, the Common Core State Standards were widely adopted, raising the bar
for both students and schools. These standards represent a turning point in American education,
as for the rst time in history, a critical mass of education leaders are calling for greater equity and
access for all students by committing to implement common standards. These standards provide
greater rigor, coherence, and focus than ever before; they constitute a true roadmap for preparing
all students for college, career, and citizenship.
The Common Core State Standards specify the
most important content students must understand
in Mathematics and in English Language Arts and
Literacy; the standards also describe important
ways in which students should engage with the
content.
In the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics, the Standards for Mathematical Practice (also known as SMPs) in particular reect
the view that learning is a social process, implicitly calling for teaching practices that leverage the
power of group work and collaborative learning. The Standards for Mathematical Practice require
that students solve real-world and mathematical problems by working eectively with peers;
formulating, communicating and critiquing arguments; and persevering through diculty. In short,
the SMP support students’ full engagement in mathematical learning.
The CCSS initiative emerged during a national push for high-stakes testing and accountability with
expectations for clear measures of teacher eectiveness. At the same time there was a widespread
shift in teacher evaluation plans across the country to emphasize instructional planning,
preparation, and the promotion of a collaborative and collegial environment.
Taken together, the rollout of the CCSS and this shift in the expectations for educator performance
reect an understanding in the eld that schools must think holistically about students’ learning
experience. Teachers can practice a more comprehensive approach through a number of creative
strategies that leverage students’ diverse strengths.
In particular, to support eective collaborative learning, teachers can model for their students
positive behaviors that promote crucial social and emotional skills. Schools and districts can
support this work by adopting policies that acknowledge the importance of positive learning
environments. They can also provide teachers with tools to identify and promote the skills that
students need for continued learning and for applying their growing knowledge exibly to solve real-
world problems.
Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
Making
the case
Taken together, the rollout of the
CCSS and this shift in the expectations
for educator performance reect an
understanding in the eld that schools
must think holistically about students’
learning experience.

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Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case
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I. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice and the
social and emotional learning competencies are inextricably linked
An emphasis on the social and emotional aspects of learning
is a common thread in the American education system’s move
toward common standards to support student learning. The
phrase social and emotional learning, or SEL, is widely used
to refer to the process of developing skills and attitudes that
students need for success in school, work, and life.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) describes SEL in terms of ve domains of competence:
self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship
skills, and responsible decision-making.
These competencies are sometimes discussed under other
names, such as noncognitive skills (Dweck, Walton, & Cohen,
2014; Duckworth & Yeager, 2015), life skills (Botvin & Grin,
2004), or 21st-century skills (National Research Council, 2012; Silva, 2009), but central among
them is an emphasis on both interpersonal skills and intrapersonal skills.
Five SEL Core Competencies as Identied by CASEL1
• Self-awareness: The ability to accurately recognize one’s emotions and thoughts and their
inuence on behavior. This includes accurately assessing one’s strengths and limitations
and possessing a well-grounded sense of condence and optimism.
• Self-management: The ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
eectively in dierent situations. This includes managing stress, controlling impulses,
motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal and academic goals.
• Social awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from
diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and
to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
• Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding
relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly,
listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conict
constructively, and seeking and oering help when needed.
• Responsible decision-making: The ability to make constructive and respectful choices
about personal behavior and social interactions based on consideration of ethical
standards, safety concerns, social norms, the realistic evaluation of consequences of
various actions, and the well-being of self and others.
The importance of the ve competencies identied by CASEL is reected in the language
used in the CCSS for Mathematics and in these standards’ call for students to be able to apply
knowledge to solve real-world problems. In fact, examining the Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice text makes it hard to imagine how students could fully achieve the
competencies described in these standards without demonstrating strength in CASEL’s SEL
1 Quoted from CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Social and Emotional Learning Core Competencies.
http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/core-competencies
Social &
Emotional
Learning
SELF-
MANAGEMENT
SELF-
AWARENESS
SOCIAL
AWARENESS
RELATIONSHIP
SKILLS
RESPONSIBLE
DECISION-
MAKING
Social & Emotional Learning Core Competencies

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Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case page 3
competencies (see Appendix B for a table laying out some of the connections between the
Standards for Mathematical Practice and the SEL competencies).
As an example, SMP 1 requires that students “Make sense of problems and persevere in solving
them.” Mathematically procient students “...understand the approaches of others to solving
complex problems and identify correspondences between dierent approaches.” To eectively
engage in this practice, students must be able to stay calm when facing a challenging problem
(self-management), recognize when they lack the knowledge to solve a problem (self-awareness),
eectively solicit help from others (relationship skills), and learn from others how they solve
problems (social awareness).
II. Benefits of integrating social and emotional learning into education
practice
Beyond the clear connections to the Standards for Mathematical Practice, social and emotional
learning is also a key ingredient for cultivating a rich and supportive learning environment (Ryan
& Deci, 2000; Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan, 2007; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998), which is crucial to
successful implementation of the CCSS and of modern measures of teacher eectiveness (such as
those in Charlotte Danielson’s The Framework for Teaching). Integrating explicit attention to SEL at
the classroom, school, and district levels promotes an academic climate conducive to learning. And
often, integrating SEL strategies only requires modifying or expanding high-quality interactions that
are already happening.
For example, many teachers already routinely implement practices, such as perspective-taking
and help-seeking, that promote their students’ social and emotional learning. In such situations,
a modest amount of additional attention to highlighting teaching practices that promote SEL
can maximize a school or district’s ability to support the learning of both its students and its
sta. Highlighting eective strategies already in use encourages broader use of these and similar
strategies.
The intrinsic connection between SEL and education trends that focus on creating positive
learning environments and facilitating deeper learning is supported by research evidence (Durlak,
Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011; National Research Council, 2012). Cultivating
students’ social and emotional development oers immediate and long-term benets (Durlak et al.,
2011).
In fact, Durlak et al.’s 2011 meta-analysis of 213
rigorous studies of SEL in schools indicated
that on average, students receiving quality SEL
instruction demonstrated academic achievement
11 percentile points higher than that of their
counterparts who did not receive SEL instruction.
In regard to specic gains in mathematics, a
recent statewide study in West Virginia using
project-based learning, an instructional approach
that deeply integrates SEL, found that classrooms with math teachers who implemented project-
based learning had students who could create their own original products, generate their own
problem solving ideas, create a product in collaboration, and use a variety of media to convey ideas
(Ravitz, 2013).
The bottom line . . .
For every $1 spent implementing SEL
programs, $11 is saved in resources
that are not expended managing
behavior problems and additional
interventions for “at-risk” youth…
—Beleld et al., 2015

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Additionally, a study comparing the performance of students being taught using the Dana Center–
Agile Mind online course program Intensied Algebra, which includes explicit SEL supports, to
a comparable group of ninth-grade students taking a typical algebra course showed that when
implemented with delity, the Intensied Algebra program signicantly increased student
achievement (Tidd, Stoelinga, Bush-Richards, De Sena, & Dwyer, 2015).
Research also shows that developing SEL skills cultivates students who demonstrate signicantly
greater motivation to learn, deeper commitment to school, increased time devoted to schoolwork,
better classroom behavior, fewer negative behaviors (e.g., disruptiveness, noncompliance, and
aggression), fewer disciplinary referrals, and reduced emotional distress (e.g., fewer reports of
student depression, anxiety, stress, and social withdrawal). The value of SEL also extends beyond
the classroom, with studies showing SE competencies predicting success in work settings
(National Research Council, 2012).
In fact, emotional intelligence research points to social and emotional skills as providing a
strong foundation of practical abilities that facilitates success throughout life (Goleman, 2013;
Goleman, 2003), which is also a goal of the CCSS for Mathematics. Moreover, recent research has
highlighted the scal benets of promoting students’ social and emotional skills. A 2015 study
conducted by the Center for Benet-Cost Studies in Education at Columbia University’s Teachers
College indicated that six of the most commonly used SEL programs showed an impressive
average benet to cost ratio of 11 to 1 (Beleld et al., 2015). In other words, for every $1 that was
spent implementing these programs (beyond what would normally be spent on instruction), $11
was saved in resources that were not expended dealing with behavior problems and additional
interventions for “at-risk” youth (Espelage, Low, Polanin, & Brown, 2013).
III. A focus on SEL is gaining momentum in education policy
As research makes the benets of integrating SEL into academics increasingly clear, while also
showing that these skills are teachable throughout life, education policies across the nation are
reecting an emphasis on the continual growth of students’ SEL as an ingredient key to their
academic success.
Although for many years, SEL has been valued in early childhood education across the country
(Bierman, Nix, Domitrovich, Welsh, & Gest, 2015; Dusenbury, Weissberg, Goren, & Domitrovich,
2014; Rimm-Kaufman & Hulleman, 2015), in 2004, Illinois became the rst state to adopt
comprehensive K–12 SEL standards. More recently, Kansas and Pennsylvania joined Illinois by
adopting their own set of free-standing K–12 SEL standards. As of 2015, CASEL’s ongoing scan of
state policies and standards related to SEL indicates that at least eight additional states have SEL
policies developing in their legislature.
Educators and lawmakers in these pioneering states know that social and emotional development
does not stop in preschool, but must be cultivated in students through the high school years
(Dusenbury, Weissberg, Goren, & Domitrovich, 2014; Dusenbury et al., 2015). Though work to
embed SEL into education policy continues at both the state and the federal level, some school
districts are forging forward on their own. This trend is an encouraging sign that momentum is
building behind SEL and that an increasing number of educators and education leaders understand
how important SEL is to success in rigorous academics, including the academic practices and
content described in the CCSS for Mathematics.
Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case
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IV. C ollaborating Districts Initiative members put in place systemic SEL
supports
CASEL believes that SEL is best leveraged to support students when it is integrated at multiple
levels, including the classroom, school, and district (Mart, Weissberg, & Kendziora, 2015).
Innovative educators across the nation are making
integration of SEL into their schools a priority and are
forging a roadmap of success for their colleagues to follow.
Eight of the nation’s largest school districts, all part of
CASEL’s Collaborating Districts Initiative, are integrating
SEL into their instructional practices, learning environment,
learning standards (e.g., the CCSS), and nearly every aspect
of daily operations.
These districts demonstrate that aligning SEL with
academics, while also integrating SEL systemically, can lead
to positive and powerful impacts on student outcomes.
In Chicago Public Schools, crosswalks that highlight the intersections between SEL and the CCSS
for Mathematics support teachers in drafting unit and lesson plans as part of the Common Core
professional development process. These crosswalk tools facilitate collaboration across central
oce departments, which occur during the district’s Integration Summits. These summits provide
opportunities for departments to share how their work supports success with the Common Core.
In the Washoe County School District, the Core Task Project2 embeds SEL throughout the district
by assembling central oce SEL leads and school grade-level teams to emphasize the intersections
between SEL skill development and current denitions of high-quality instruction. This project uses
planning time to draft lessons that include SEL and to identify opportunities to integrate SEL into
existing practices. Washoe district leaders believe that their focus on high-quality instruction creates
a sense of shared mission and ensures neither SEL nor CCSS will feel like disjointed initiatives.
Several other Collaborating Districts Initiative members have integrated SEL into curriculum,
lessons, and student benchmarks. For example, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has
aligned SEL standards with the CCSS by developing a scope and sequence that addresses SEL
competencies, with model lesson plans aligned with the CCSS.
The Anchorage School District3 has created an infusion and integration action group that works to
integrate SEL into lessons at the elementary and secondary level. An example of this group’s work
is the rewriting of the second-grade curriculum in social studies to integrate SEL within the subject
lessons.
Similarly, the Austin Independent School District has created a Curriculum Writer’s Cadre,4
an annual workshop that brings together over 200 teachers and SEL department sta to
collaboratively write new curriculum that integrates SEL across various academic content areas.
Sacramento City Unied School District’s5 SEL Standards and Assessment workgroup has
embedded SEL standards into the district’s Graduate Prole, which identies the key competencies
and benchmarks that address academic, technical, and SEL knowledge and skills, while also serving
as a barometer of student preparedness for life after graduation.
Collaborating Districts Initiative
Anchorage, Alaska
Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois
Cleveland, Ohio
Nashville, Tennessee
Oakland, California
Sacramento, California
Washoe County, Nevada
2 http://coretaskproject.com/tag/washoe
3 http://www.asdk12.org/pld/sel/aboutsocialemotionallearning/team
4 http://www.austinisd.org/academics/curriculum/cwc, https://www.austinisd.org/academics/sel
5 http://www.scusd.edu/social-emotional-learning-sel-1, https://sites.google.com/site/scusdselwiki
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Within the Oakland Unied School District,6 the CCSS are viewed as an opportunity to renew
focus on educating the whole child. Oakland’s approach is to highlight and leverage the connections
that already exist between the CCSS and the SEL competencies. In fact, during the summer of
2013, Oakland used SEL as the organizing framework for their Common Core Institute.
The Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools7 district has used various approaches to integrate SEL
into its curriculum, including district-wide adoption of three evidence-based programs (Responsive
Classroom, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, and project-based learning) and the alignment
of various SEL-relevant initiatives within the district; and inclusion of SEL strategies into their
classroom management approach.
The Collaborating Districts Initiative: Anchorage School District, Austin Independent School District,
Chicago Public Schools, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools,
Oakland Unied School District, Sacramento City Unied School District, and Washoe County School District
6 http://publicportal.ousd.k12.ca.us/Domain/143
7 http://www.mnps.org/pages/mnps/Academics/Social_and_Emotional_Learning/Social___Emotional_Learning
These district examples reect only a small snapshot of the powerful work being done in schools
and districts across the country. A 2015 report by the American Institutes for Research (AIR),
external evaluator for the Collaborating Districts Initiative, noted that the member districts’ focus
on deeply integrating SEL is beginning to pay dividends.
AIR’s report indicated that CDI districts have seen improvements in academic achievement and
student behavioral outcomes since the CDI began. Further, AIR’s analysis showed that schools
that made greater progress with SEL-focused implementation plans experienced greater gains in
student outcomes than did schools that made less progress with implementation, suggesting that
integrating SEL into their school and district practices was a key mechanism behind the districts’
improvements (American Institutes for Research, 2015).
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V. Educators can access a variety of SEL and SEL-integrated resources
In addition to the scaolding oered by SEL-integrated district policies, professional development,
and lesson integration, educators implementing SEL can also nd support in SEL and SEL-
integrated programs or curricula. These programs or curricula provide various kinds of support,
including the following:
• Explicitly teaching SEL skills to students (e.g., Lion’s Quest, PATHS, and Academic Youth
Development)8
• Training teachers in ways of promoting social and emotional skills in their students (e.g., My
Teaching Partner, Developmental Designs, and Expeditionary Learning)9
• Systematically integrating SEL into the instruction of academic content (e.g., Intensied
Algebra and Facing History and Ourselves).10
Two mathematics programs that integrate social and emotional learning
Given this paper’s focus on social and emotional learning and mathematics, here we take a deeper look at
two programs that integrate mathematics content and social and emotional learning competencies.
Intensied Algebra I
The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of
Texas at Austin, in collaboration with the Learning
Sciences Research Institute at the University of
Illinois at Chicago and Agile Mind,11 developed a
program that integrates SEL with rigorous Algebra
instruction.
Intensied Algebra I is a comprehensive program
for double-block Algebra I class designed to help
students one or more years behind grade level
succeed in algebra within one academic year.
Intensied Algebra combines core algebra content
and application of mathematical reasoning with
explicit SEL supports focused on key attitudes and
behaviors essential to student success.
In a study comparing student achievement
in classes with low-delity or high delity
implementations of double-block Intensied
Algebra with the performance of a comparable
group of students taking a typical algebra course
in ninth grade, the results show that when
implemented with delity, participation in the
Intensied Algebra program signicantly increased
the achievement of participating students.
The passing rates for the end-of-course assessment
for the high-delity group were more than two-and-
a-half times those of the comparison group (Tidd,
Stoelinga, Bush-Richards, De Sena, & Dwyer, 2015).
Academic Youth Development
The Dana Center has also collaborated with Agile
Mind to create the Academic Youth Development
family of research-based programs to prepare
students for academic success with problem
solving approaches that are embedded in a youth
development curriculum.
AYD helps students to reshape their academic
identities and enhance their engagement in learning.
To date, AYD has been implemented in over 500
schools across several states. Across multiple
years of data, students reported changes on
both mindsets and academic behaviors, such
as malleability of intelligence, self-ecacy, and
persistence on academic achievement.
For example, evaluators at Boston Public Schools
gathered data to measure AYD and non-AYD student
achievement in Algebra I after the AYD summer
experience. During the rst marking period of the
school year, twice as many AYD students as non-AYD
students earned an A in Algebra, and the failing rate
among AYD students was one fth that of non-AYD
students (Charles A. Dana Center & Agile Mind, 2014).
In one district in Texas, AYD students earned higher
average grades during the following academic
year in Algebra than did their non-AYD peers and
performed better on standardized mathematics
assessments.
8 http://www.lions-quest.org; http://www.pathstraining.com/main; http://www.agilemind.com/programs/academic-youth-development
9 http://curry.virginia.edu/research/centers/castl/mtp; https://www.originsonline.org/developmental-designs; http://elschools.org
10 http://www.agilemind.com/programs/mathematics/intensied-algebra-i; https://www.facinghistory.org
11 http://www.utdanacenter.org; http://www.lsri.uic.edu; http://www.agilemind.com
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In addition to programming and curricula, various types of tools are becoming available to support
teachers, schools, and districts in their eorts to promote students’ SEL skills and thus, their
academic and overall success. The project from which this white paper emerged, “Connecting
Mathematics Content and Social and Emotional Learning to Instruction,” is aimed at providing such
tools and support for integrating SEL to ultimately achieve the goals of the Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics, and particularly the Standards for Mathematical Practice.
At the school and classroom level, this project produced an illustrative picture of an ideal
classroom in which SEL supports algebra instruction.
To directly support teachers in classrooms, this project developed and piloted a set of instructional
guides, each built around an engaging formative assessment task from the Mathematics
Assessment Resource Service (MARS).12 These instructional guides demonstrate how teachers
can help students achieve the competencies described in the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematical Practice by promoting students’ social and emotional skills.
These tools highlight opportunities to evaluate students’ social and emotional skills, while also
recommending strategies to promote them.
VI. Social and emotional learning for all
As initiatives such as the CCSS, accountability systems, and teacher evaluation frameworks
dominate today’s education landscape, a focus on the underlying skills and practices that support
academic achievement can serve as a constant that anchors district reform eorts. The ve social
and emotional learning competencies as identied by CASEL provide a coherent framework for
delivering instruction that incorporates these supportive skills and practices.
There are clear connections between SEL competencies and the skills called for by the Common
Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice (see Appendix B). The deep and generalizable
learning required by the SMP requires that students use social and emotional learning skills to
manage their emotions, set goals and develop plans, persevere through adversity, collaborate with
peers, and construct and communicate arguments eectively.
CASEL’s CDI districts have shown that supportive leadership, high-level collaboration, and
professional learning opportunities are factors that create a focus on integrating SEL into core
content instruction and promote an environment that supports social and emotional learning
systemically. Collaborating Districts Initiative members report that SEL has played a particularly
vital role in professional learning. The inclusion of SEL in Common Core professional learning
activities simultaneously builds and distributes SEL capacity throughout districts while advancing
the overall quality of teaching and learning.
Additionally, cross-district learning communities can leverage the experience of districts to model
eective SEL practices on a macro level. School and district administrators across the country
can propel their own and other districts toward success by forming and participating in such
communities to build capacity nationwide.
Educators can also look to SEL and SEL-integrated programming for help promoting their students’
social and emotional skills. Evaluations of eectiveness for some of these programs are ongoing,
but some resources exist to identify high quality programs and should be referenced when selecting
a program to implement. CASEL has published two guides for schools to use in identifying
12 http://www.insidemathematics.org/performance-assessment-tasks or http://mathshell.org/ba_mars.htm
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high quality and eective programs with a strong evidence base: one for programs at the preschool
and elementary school level, and another for programs that serve middle and high school.13
By weaving SEL into content instruction and bridging organizational silos to shine a light on the
alignment between SEL and academics, districts across the nation are viewing social and emotional
learning less as an add-on or special program for a subset of students, and more as an essential
component of the academic program. In adopting SEL as a key component of their instructional
program, education leaders rise to the challenge presented by the Common Core State
Standards—and other demanding academic standards—and provide their students opportunities
to build the personal and social skills needed for success in school and in life.
13 2013 CASEL Guide: Eective Social and Emotional Learning Programs—Preschool and Elementary School Edition and 2015 CASEL
Guide: Eective Social and Emotional Learning Programs—Middle and High School Edition, both available via http://www.casel.org/guide
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Works cited
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Mathematics resources, please see Appendix A, “Annotated list of resources.”
American Institutes for Research. (2015 March). CASEL/NoVo Collaborating Districts Initiative:
2014 Cross-District Outcome Evaluation Report. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved August
29, 2015, from http://www.air.org/sites/default/les/downloads/report/Cleveland-Cross-
District-Outcome-Evaluation-Report-2014.pdf
Beleld, C., Bowden, B., Klapp, A., Levin, H., Shand, R., & Zander, S. (2015 February). The economic
value of social and emotional learning. Revised edition. NY, NY: Center for Benet-Cost
Studies in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. Retrieved August 29, 2015,
from http://cbcse.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SEL-Revised.pdf
Bierman, K. L., Nix, R. L., Domitrovich, C. E., Welsh, J. A., & Gest, S. D. (2015). The Head Start REDI
Project and school readiness.Chapter 8 in A.J. Reynolds, J.A. Temple, & A.J. Rolnick (Eds.)
Health and education in early childhood: Predictors, interventions, and policies. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 208–233.
Botvin, G. J., & Grin, K. W. (2004 October). Life skills training: Empirical ndings and future
directions. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 25(2), 211–232.
Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin & Agile Mind. (2014). Academic youth
development: Promising ndings and district snapshots. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from
http://www.utdanacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/RB_AYD_0514_WEB.pdf.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2012). 2013 CASEL guide: Eective
social and emotional learning programs—Preschool and elementary school edition. Chicago,
IL: Author. Retrieved August 29, 2015, via http://www.casel.org/guide
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2015). 2015 CASEL guide: Eective
social and emotional learning programs—Middle and high school edition. Chicago, IL: Author.
Retrieved August 29, 2015, via http://www.casel.org/guide
Danielson, C. (2013). The framework for teaching evaluation instrument, 2013 edition. Princeton, NJ:
The Danielson Group. Retrieved August 31, 2015, via http://danielsongroup.org/framework
Duckworth, A. L., & Yeager, D. S. (2015 May). Measurement matters: Assessing personal qualities
other than cognitive ability for educational purposes. Educational Researcher, 44(4), 237–
251. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15584327
Durlak J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011 January-
February). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis
of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. Retrieved
August 29, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
Dusenbury, L. A., Newman, J. Z., Weissberg, R. P., Goren, P., Domitrovich, C. E., & Mart, A. K. (2015).
The case for preschool through high school: State learning standards for SEL. In J. A. Durlak,
C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Handbook of social and emotional
learning: Research and practice (Chapter 35, pp. 532–548). NY, NY: Guilford Press.
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Dusenbury, L., Weissberg, R. P., Goren, P., & Domitrovich, C. (2014 January). State standards to
advance social and emotional learning: Findings from CASEL’s state scan of social and
emotional learning standards, preschool through high school, 2014. Chicago, IL: Collaborative
for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Retrieved August 30, 2015, via http://www.
casel.org/library/2014/2/10/state-standards-to-advance-social-and-emotional-learning
Dweck, C. S., Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2014). Academic tenacity: Mindsets and skills that
promote long-term learning. Seattle, WA: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved
August 30, 2015, from https://ed.stanford.edu/sites/default/les/manual/dweck-walton-
cohen-2014.pdf
Espelage, D. L., Low, S., Polanin, J. R., & Brown, E. C. (2013 August). The impact of a middle school
program to reduce aggression, victimization, and sexual violence. Journal of Adolescent
Health, 53(2),180–186. Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
jadohealth.2013.02.021
Goleman, D. (2013). Focus: The hidden driver of excellence. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Goleman, D. (2003). What makes a leader? Chapter 13 in L. W. Porter, H. L. Angle, and R. W. Allen
(Eds.), Organizational Inuence Processes, 2nd ed. (pp. 229–241). NY, NY: M. E. Sharpe, an
imprint of Routledge.
Mart, A. K., Weissberg, R. P., & Kendziora, K. (2015). Systemic Support for SEL in school districts. In
J. A Durlak, C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Handbook of social and
emotional learning: Research and practice (Chapter 32, pp. 482–499). NY, NY: Guilford Press.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Ocers.
(2010). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Washington D.C.: National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Ocers.
Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://www.corestandards.org/Math
National Research Council. (2012). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge
and skills in the 21st century. Committee on Dening Deeper Learning and 21st Century
Skills, J. W. Pellegrino and M. L. Hilton, Editors. Board on Testing and Assessment and
Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Patrick, H., Ryan, A. M., & Kaplan, A. (2007 February). Early adolescents’ perceptions of the
classroom social environment, motivational beliefs, and engagement. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 99(1), 83–98. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-
0663.99.1.83
Ravitz, J. (2013 March 27). Math, PBL and 21st century learning for all students. Edutopia. Retrieved
August 30, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/math-PBL-21st-century-learning-
jason-ravitz
Rimm-Kaufman, S., and Hulleman, C. (2015). SEL in elementary school settings: Identifying
mechanisms that matter. In J. A. Durlak, C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullotta
(Eds.), Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice (Chapter 10, pp.
151–166). NY, NY: Guilford Press.
Ryan, A. M., Gheen, M. H., & Midgley, C. (1998 September). Why do some students avoid asking for
help? An examination of the interplay among students’ academic ecacy, teachers’ social–
emotional role, and the classroom goal structure. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3),
528–535. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://doi.apa.org/journals/edu/90/3/528.html
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Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000 January). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic
motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Silva, E. (2009 May). Measuring skills for 21st-century learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 90, 630–634.
Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/003172170909000905
Tidd, S. T., Stoelinga, T. M., Bush-Richards, A. M., De Sena, D. L., & Dwyer, T. J. (2015). An
intensication approach to double-block Algebra: A pilot implementation of Intensied
Algebra in a large urban school district. Manuscript submitted for publication.
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Appendix A: Annotated list of resources from the Dana Center and CASEL
The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin14
The Dana Center and education publisher Agile Mind have developed comprehensive course
programs embedded with social and emotional learning supports:
Academic Youth Development15 is a research-based family of programs for educators and their
students designed to strengthen students’ academic identities, enhance their engagement in
learning, and transform their achievement. Targeting the specic needs of dierent audiences, the
programs in the AYD family share common foundations in the latest research on student motiva-
tion, engagement, and learning.
Summer-Start AYD16 serves students entering Algebra I who are at or near grade level in
mathematics and begins with an intensive summer experience.
School-YearAYD17 serves students in 8th, 9th, or 10thgrade during the academic year.
An Educator’s Course in AYD18 is designed for cohorts of educators interested in learning
about the emerging research on student learning and motivation and exploring strategies to
put this research into practice in their schools and districts.
Academic Youth Development: Promising Findings and District Snapshots19
Intensied Algebra I,20 a comprehensive program used in an extended-time algebra class, helps
students who are one to two years behind in mathematics become successful in algebra. Central
to the program is the idea that struggling students need a powerful combination of a challenging
curriculum; cohesive, targeted supports; and additional well-structured classroom time. Intensi-
ed Algebra I seeks to address the need for a robust Algebra I curriculum with embedded, ecient
review and repair of foundational mathematical skills and concepts. It aims to address multiple
dimensions of learning mathematics, including social, aective, linguistic, and cognitive.
Key design features of Intensied Algebra I21
A description of how Intensied Algebra I integrates those topics that are most critical for
success in a rst algebra course and in future mathematics courses.
What teachers think about Intensied Algebra I22
A brief of an evaluation conducted by Inverness Research that documented the experiences
and opinions of teachers who piloted Intensied Algebra I materials in their classroom.
Intensied Algebra I: Program and research update23
An overview of the Intensied Algebra program and its impact on student success. Includes
summaries of case studies of success in schools and districts.
14 http://www.utdanacenter.org
15 http://www.agilemind.com/programs/academic-youth-development
16 http://www.utdanacenter.org/pre-kindergarten-12-education/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/comprehensive-course-programs/
academic-youth-development/summer-start-ayd
17 http://www.utdanacenter.org/pre-kindergarten-12-education/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/comprehensive-course-programs/
academic-youth-development/school-year-ayd
18 http://www.utdanacenter.org/pre-kindergarten-12-education/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/comprehensive-course-programs/
academic-youth-development/an-educators-course-in-ayd
19 http://www.utdanacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/RB_AYD_0514_WEB.pdf
20 http://www.utdanacenter.org/pre-kindergarten-12-education/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/intensied-algebra
21 http://www.utdanacenter.org/pre-kindergarten-12-education/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/intensied-algebra/key-design-
features-of-intensied-algebra
22 http://www.utdanacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/IA_inverness_evaluation_brief_june2012.pdf
23 http://www.utdanacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/IA_I_program_and_research_update_01102013.pdf
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Additional resources
Learning and the Adolescent Mind24
This site shares with parents and educators the most compelling knowledge about student
learning and success, through the ideas and the research of the most respected leaders and
emerging thinkers in the elds of psychology and adolescent education.
Dana Center resources available through its online catalog25
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics chart: Grades K–8
A full-color, poster-size wall chart that displays the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics for Kindergarten through grade 8, organized by grade level and domain.
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics chart: Grades 6–High School
A full-color, poster-size wall chart that displays the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics for grades 6 through high school. The chart displays the middle school
standards organized by grade level and by domain. The high school standards are organized
by conceptual categories and aligned with the middle school domains to accentuate the
natural connections to the middle school content.
Algebra Formative Assessments Through the Common Core series
A standards-aligned assessment series for mathematics teachers and leaders consisting of
121 tasks aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics grouped into four
thematically related books.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)26
What Is Social and Emotional Learning?27
An overview of SEL and its ve core competencies
CASEL Guide: Eective Social and Emotional Learning Programs
Preschool and Elementary School Edition (2013)28
Middle and High School Edition (2015)29
The CASEL Guide provides a systematic framework for evaluating the quality of social
and emotional programs and applies this framework to identify and rate well-designed,
evidence-based SEL programs with potential for broad dissemination to schools across the
United States. The Guide also shares best-practice guidelines for district and school teams
on how to select and implement SEL programs. Finally, it oers recommendations for future
priorities to advance SEL research and practice.
24 http://learningandtheadolescentmind.org/index_ash.html
25 http://www.utdanacenter.org/catalog
26 http://www.casel.org
27 http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning
28 http://www.casel.org/s/2013-casel-guide.pdf
29 http://www.casel.org/middle-and-high-school-edition-casel-guide
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Benets of SEL
Social and Emotional Learning in Schools: From Programs to Strategies30
This report provides an overview of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools. It argues
for going beyond programmatic approaches to a strategy that integrates SEL into all aspects
of educational practice, including academic instruction and school climate.
The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-
Based Universal Interventions31
This review of 213 studies of school-based social and emotional learning programs was
published in the January 2011 issue of Child Development and has become one of the most
important and frequently cited documents in the SEL eld.
The Missing Piece: A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower
Children and Transform Schools32
The central message of this report is that teachers across America understand that social
and emotional learning (SEL) is critical to student success in school, work, and life.
Integrating SEL and Academic Learning
Academic Learning + Social and Emotional Learning = National Priority33
An article by CASEL’s Roger Weissberg and Jason Cascarinothat explains why educators,
researchers, and policy makers need to make social and emotional learning a priority in edu-
cation at every level: classroom, school, district, state, and nation.
Teaching The Whole Child: Instructional Practices That Support Social–Emotional Learning In Three
Teacher Evaluation Frameworks34
This report provides an overview of social and emotional learning (SEL) and how it is rel-
evant to a variety of student academic outcomes. It provides a detailed description of
teaching practices that promote student competencies and links these practices to current
professional teaching frameworks.
30 http://www.srcd.org/sites/default/les/documents/spr_264_nal_2.pdf
31 Durlak J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011 January-February). The impact of enhancing
students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432.
Retrieved August 29, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
32 Civic Enterprises, Bridgeland, J., Bruce, M., & Hariharan, A. (2013). The missing piece: A national teacher survey on how social and
emotional learning can empower children and transform schools. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Retrieved August 29, 2015, from http://www.casel.org/library/the-missing-piece
33 Weissberg, R. P., & Cascarino, J. (2013 October). Academic learning + social-emotional learning = national priority. Phi Delta
Kappan, 95(2): 8–13. Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://www.casel.org/s/weissberg-cascarino-phi-delta-kappan.pdf or
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/003172171309500203
34 Yoder, N. (2014 January). Teaching the Whole Child: Instructional Practices That Support Social-Emotional Learning in Three
Teacher Evaluation Frameworks. Research-to-Practice Brief, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at
American Institutes for Research. Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://www.gtlcenter.org/sites/default/les/TeachingtheWholeChild.pdf
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AligningPreschoolthroughHighSchoolSocialandEmotionalLearningStandards:A
CriticalandDoableNextStep35
This brief calls for analignment of birth to preschool and K–12 state standards for social
and emotional learning. It presents overviews of SEL competencies and state standards
and includes examples of aligned SEL standards in two states (Illinois and Pennsylvania)
that have been leaders for the eld. The brief concludes with recommendations for aligning
SEL and academic standards and guidelines for the development of state standards for SEL
generally.
Books
Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What Does the Research Say?36
In this book, nationally recognized leaders in education and psychology examine the
relationships between social-emotional education and school success—specically focusing
on interventions that enhance student learning. Oering scientic evidence and practical
examples, this volume points out the many benets of social-emotional learning programs.
Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators37
This book addresses a crucial need among educators for a straightforward, practical guide
to establishing high-quality social and emotional education programs. True academic
success and lasting social eectiveness, the authors believe, require strong social and
emotional skills.
Common Core State Standards
The ocial website of the Common Core State Standards38
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics39
A description of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics along with links to PDF
and HTML versions of the standards.
Standards for Mathematical Practice40
Webpage containing the Standards for Mathematical Practice, a subset of the Common
Core State Standards for Mathematics that describe the processes and prociencies that
students should develop and engage in to be successful learners in mathematics.
35 Zinsser, K. M., Weissberg, R. P., & Dusenbury, L. (2013). Aligning preschool through high school social and emotional learning
standards: A critical and doable next step. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Retrieved August 31,
2015, from http://www.casel.org/library/2013/12/5/aligning-preschool-through-high-school-social-and-emoonal-learning-standards
36 J. E. Zins, R. P. Weissberg, M. C. Wang, & H. J. Walberg, Eds. (2004). Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning:
What Does the Research Say? The series on social emotional learning, 5. NY, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.
37 Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N. M., Kessler, R., Schwab-Stone, M. E., & Shriver,
T. P. (1997). Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
38 http://www.corestandards.org
39 http://www.corestandards.org/Math
40 http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice
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Appendix B: Connecting the Standards for Mathematical Practice and
Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
The purpose of this appendix is to illustrate the connections between the Common Core State Stan-
dards for Mathematical Practice (CCSS-SMP) and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies.
Table 1. Connections between the CCSS-SMP and SEL competencies
Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Social and
Emotional Learning
Competencies
SMP 1 — Make sense of problems and persevere in
solving them.
Mathematically procient students start by explaining to
themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for
entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints,
relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form
and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather
than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider
analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms
of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution.
They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course
if necessary. Older students might, depending on the context
of the problem, transform algebraic expressions or change
the viewing window on their graphing calculator to get the
information they need. Mathematically procient students can
explain correspondences between equations, verbal descriptions,
tables, and graphs or draw diagrams of important features and
relationships, graph data, and search for regularity or trends.
Younger students might rely on using concrete objects or pictures
to help conceptualize and solve a problem. Mathematically
procient students check their answers to problems using a
dierent method, and they continually ask themselves, “Does this
make sense?” They can understand the approaches of others to
solving complex problems and identify correspondences between
dierent approaches.
Be aware of their
strengths and what
they know
Self-awareness
Resist impulses
and regulate their
thoughts and
behaviors
Self-management
Manage their
time and energy
toward a goal while
appraising their
work
Self-management
Take on others’
perspectives
Social awareness
SMP 2 — Reason abstractly
and quantitatively.
Mathematically procient students make sense of quantities
and their relationships in problem situations. They bring
two complementary abilities to bear on problems involving
quantitative relationships: the ability todecontextualize—to
abstract a given situation and represent it symbolically and
manipulate the representing symbols as if they have a life of
their own, without necessarily attending to their referents—and
the ability tocontextualize, to pause as needed during the
manipulation process in order to probe into the referents
for the symbols involved. Quantitative reasoning entails habits
of creating a coherent representation of the problem at hand;
considering the units involved; attending to the meaning of
quantities, not just how to compute them; and knowing and
exibly using dierent properties of operations and objects.
Self-regulate
and think
metacognitively
Self-management
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Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Social and
Emotional Learning
Competencies
SMP 3 — Construct viable arguments and critique the
reasoning of others.
Mathematically procient students understand and use stated
assumptions, denitions, and previously established results in
constructing arguments. They make conjectures and build a
logical progression of statements to explore the truth of their
conjectures. They are able to analyze situations by breaking them
into cases, and can recognize and use counterexamples. They
justify their conclusions, communicate them to others, and
respond to the arguments of others. They reason inductively
about data, making plausible arguments that take into
account the context from which the data arose. Mathematically
procient students are also able to compare the eectiveness of
two plausible arguments, distinguish correct logic or reasoning
from that which is awed, and—if there is a aw in an argument—
explain what it is. Elementary students can construct arguments
using concrete referents such as objects, drawings, diagrams, and
actions. Such arguments can make sense and be correct, even
though they are not generalized or made formal until later grades.
Later, students learn to determine domains to which an argument
applies. Students at all grades can listen or read the arguments
of others, decide whether they make sense, and ask useful
questions to clarify or improve the arguments.
To anticipate how
students’ own
arguments may be
interpreted and
received, take on
the perspectives of
others
Social awareness
Think meta-
cognitively and
organize their own
thoughts with given
information
Self-management
Understand others’
perspectives to
eectively interpret
their arguments
Social awareness
Listen actively to
further explore the
arguments of others
Relationship skills
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Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Social and
Emotional Learning
Competencies
SMP 4 — Model with mathematics.
Mathematically procient students can apply the mathematics
they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and
the workplace. In early grades, this might be as simple as writing
an addition equation to describe a situation. In middle grades, a
student might apply proportional reasoning to plan a school event
or analyze a problem in the community. By high school, a student
might use geometry to solve a design problem or use a function
to describe how one quantity of interest depends on another.
Mathematically procient students who can apply what they know
are comfortable making assumptions and approximations to
simplify a complicated situation, realizing that these may need
revision later. They are able to identify important quantities in a
practical situation and map their relationships using such tools
as diagrams, two-way tables, graphs, owcharts and formulas.
They can analyze those relationships mathematically to draw
conclusions. They routinely interpret their mathematical
results in the context of the situation and reect on whether
the results make sense, possibly improving the model if it has
not served its purpose.
Be aware of their
own strengths and
limitations
Self-awareness
Self-reect and
self-motivate by
recognizing the
need to improve and
work toward goals
Self-management
SMP 5 — Use appropriate tools strategically.
Mathematically procient students consider the available
tools when solving a mathematical problem. These tools might
include pencil and paper, concrete models, a ruler, a protractor, a
calculator, a spreadsheet, a computer algebra system, a statistical
package, or dynamic geometry software. Procient students
are suciently familiar with tools appropriate for their grade
or course to make sound decisions about when each of these
tools might be helpful, recognizing both the insight to be gained
and their limitations. For example, mathematically procient
high school students analyze graphs of functions and solutions
generated using a graphing calculator. They detect possible
errors by strategically using estimation and other mathematical
knowledge. When making mathematical models, they know that
technology can enable them to visualize the results of varying
assumptions, explore consequences, and compare predictions
with data. Mathematically procient students at various grade
levels are able to identify relevant external mathematical
resources, such as digital content located on a website, and
use them to pose or solve problems. They are able to use
technological tools to explore and deepen their understanding
of concepts.
Think meta-
cognitively to
identify when to use
what tool; motivate
themselves to
deepen their current
understanding
Self-management
Motivate
themselves to
deepen their current
understanding
Self-management
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Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Social and
Emotional Learning
Competencies
SMP 6 — Attend to precision.
Mathematically procient students try to communicate precisely
to others. They try to use clear denitions in discussion with
others and in their own reasoning. They state the meaning of the
symbols they choose, including using the equal sign consistently
and appropriately. They are careful about specifying units of
measure, and labeling axes to clarify the correspondence with
quantities in a problem. They calculate accurately and eciently,
express numerical answers with a degree of precision appropriate
for the problem context. In the elementary grades, students give
carefully formulated explanations to each other. By the time
they reach high school they have learned to examine claims and
make explicit use of denitions.
Take on the
perspective of
others and be aware
of others’ thoughts
and feelings in order
to strengthen the
eectiveness of
communication
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Self-regulate
thoughts and
behaviors
Self-management
SMP 7 — Look for and make use of structure.
Mathematically procient students look closely to discern a
pattern or structure. Young students, for example, might notice
that three and seven more is the same amount as seven and three
more, or they may sort a collection of shapes according to how
many sides the shapes have. Later, students will see 7 × 8 equals
the well remembered 7 × 5 + 7 × 3, in preparation for learning
about the distributive property. In the expressionx2 + 9x + 14,
older students can see the 14 as 2 × 7 and the 9 as 2 + 7. They
recognize the signicance of an existing line in a geometric gure
and can use the strategy of drawing an auxiliary line for solving
problems. They also can step back for an overview and shift
perspective. They can see complicated things, such as some
algebraic expressions, as single objects or as being composed
of several objects. For example, they can see 5 – 3(x – y)2 as 5
minus a positive number times a square and use that to realize that
its value cannot be more than 5 for any real numbers x and y.
Understand their
strengths and
possess condence
or optimism about
their ability to look
for and make use of
structure
Self-awareness
Motivate
themselves, persist,
and regulate against
impulses to give
up when a pattern
or structure is
not immediately
apparent
Self-management
Manage their own
progress
Self-management
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Common Core State Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Social and
Emotional Learning
Competencies
SMP 8 — Look for and express regularity
in repeated reasoning.
Mathematically procient students notice if calculations are
repeated, and look both for general methods and for shortcuts.
Upper elementary students might notice when dividing 25 by 11
that they are repeating the same calculations over and over again,
and conclude they have a repeating decimal. By paying attention
to the calculation of slope as they repeatedly check whether
points are on the line through (1, 2) with slope 3, middle school
students might abstract the equation (y – 2)/(x– 1) = 3. Noticing
the regularity in the way terms cancel when expanding (x – 1)
(x + 1), (x – 1)(x2 +x + 1), and (x – 1)(x3 + x2 +x + 1) might lead
them to the general formula for the sum of a geometric series. As
they work to solve a problem, mathematically procient students
maintain oversight of the process, while attending to the
details. They continually evaluate the reasonableness of their
intermediate results.
Regulate their
thoughts to know
when organizational
strategies are
needed (e.g.,
writing key facts
or organizing
information on
paper)
Self-management
Have a well-
grounded and
accurate appraisal
of their own
abilities and work
Self-awareness
1 Quoted from CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Social and Emotional Learning Core
Competencies. http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/core-competencies
2 http://www.utdanacenter.org; http://www.lsri.uic.edu; http://www.agilemind.com
Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case page 21

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About these resources
This document is one of ve interrelated resources
that articulate correlations and mutually
reinforcing commonalities between the social and
emotional learning competencies (as described
by CASEL) and the Standards for Mathematical
Practice (as described in the Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics).
These resources consist of a whitepaper focused
on making the case for integrating social and
emotional learning with the Standards for
Mathematical Practice; a vision describing an
ideal classroom exemplifying such an integration;
and three instructional guides for using selected
MARS tasks, with special attention to the CCSS
Standards for Mathematical Practice and the
social and emotional learning competencies.
(These MARS tasks can be found on the Inside
Mathematics website at http://www.insidemathematics.org/performance-assessment-tasks.)
The resources are:
• Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics: Making the case
• Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics: Describing an ideal classroom
• Using Social and Emotional Learning to Develop Mathematically Procient Students: An
instructional guide for use with MARS Task: “Conference Tables”
• Using Social and Emotional Learning to Develop Mathematically Procient Students: An
instructional guide for use with MARS Task: “Printing Tickets”
• Using Social and Emotional Learning to Develop Mathematically Procient Students: An
instructional guide for use with MARS Task: “Swimming Pool”
Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case
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Project Sta
CASEL
Project director
Jeremy Taylor,
Director of Assessment &
Continuous Improvement
Research Advisors
Celene Domitrovich,
Vice President of Research
Roger Weissberg,
Chief Knowledge Ocer
Practice Advisors
Pamela Randall-Garner,
Senior Sta Advisor-CDI
Ruth Cross, SEL Consultant
Advisory Team
Warren Currie, Chicago Public Schools
William Daniels, Chicago Public Schools
Deborah Donahue-Keegan,
Massachusetts Consortium
for Social-Emotional Learning
in Teacher Education (SEL-TEd)
Jessica Fulton,
Chicago Public Schools
Theresa Garcia,
Washoe County School District, Nevada
Molly Lahart, Chicago Public Schools
Hillary Landrum,
Washoe County School District
Steve Leinwand,
American Institutes for Research
James Lynn,
Learning Sciences Research Institute,
University of Illinois at Chicago
Amy Mart, Chicago Public Schools
Tyrone Martinez-Black,
Cicero Public School District 99, Cicero,
Illinois
Duncan Meyers, CASEL
Charles A. Dana Center
Project director
Carolyn Landel, managing director
Project managers
Lisa Brown, course program specialist,
secondary mathematics
Jodie Flint, manager of organizational learning
Research and evaluation
Angela Bush-Richards, lead researcher
Jayce Warner, research
Editing and production
Rachel Jenkins, lead editor and
production editor
Phil Swann, senior designer
Amy Salgo,
Washoe County School District
Robert Schamberg, CASEL
Melissa Schlinger, CASEL
Kimberly Schonert-Reichl,
University of British Columbia
Danielle Seabold,
Kalamazoo Regional Educational
Service Agency
Cathy Seeley,
The University of Texas at Austin
Trish Shaer,
Washoe County School District
Kasey Smith,
Washoe County School District
Andrew Stricker,
Chicago Public Schools
Emma Treviño,
San Francisco Unied School District
Joanne Whitley,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Dan Zummo, Chicago Public Schools
Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case page 23

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Copyright 2016, the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
Unless otherwise indicated, these resources are the copyrighted property of the Charles A.
Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and
Emotional Learning.
The Dana Center and CASEL grant educators a nonexclusive license to reproduce and share copies
of these resources to advance their work, without obtaining further permission from CASEL or the
University, so long as all original credits, including copyright information, are retained.
Any opinions, ndings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reect the views of the University of Texas at Austin. For
permissions requests and other queries, please contact us at info@casel.org or
danaweb@austin.utexas.edu.
About the Dana Center
The Dana Center develops and scales math and science education innovations to support
educators, administrators, and policy makers in creating seamless transitions throughout the
K–14 system for all students, especially those who have historically been underserved.
We focus in particular on strategies for improving student engagement, motivation, persistence,
and achievement.
The Center was founded in 1991 at The University of Texas at Austin. Our sta members have
expertise in leadership, literacy, research, program evaluation, mathematics and science
education, policy and systemic reform, and services to high-need populations.
For more information, see our website at www.utdanacenter.org.
About CASEL
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is the nation’s leading
organization advancing social and emotional learning (SEL). Our mission is to make social and
emotional learning an integral part of education from preschool through high school. Through
research, practice, and policy, CASEL collaborates to ensure all students become knowledgeable,
responsible, caring, and contributing members of society. Learn more about our work at
www.casel.org.
Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case
page 24